Indemnify
by Attack of Zach
Summary: The story of Aang and Toph told with different choices leading to different outcomes. Earth and Air meet, oppose and attract. Main storyline follows the show, tweaked to cater to be Taang centric. Rated T for violence.
1. The Howling

Chapter 0: Prologue; The Howling

When the wind came, so did the earth. Ripped up from its home under their feet, tangling with the force of his rage. The remaining conscious few were knocked to the crumbled and shaking ground, covering their faces instinctively to shield themselves from the debris. The air whirled around him in such a fury that it caused branches to be torn from the nearby trees. Hovering several feet off the ground, glowing with all the power of his past lives, Aang grit his teeth and clenched his fists, glaring at the accused. The typical peace loving demeanor was gone from the young Avatar. In its place stood an unparalleled malice. With an intake of breath, the fire was summoned. Dancing with the rock and wind, the destructive element invoked deeper fear into the hearts of those around him. The water skin that dependently clung to Katara's hip was trembling. The liquid was pulled from it as she lay there in Sokka's arms. He had her covered, tucked into his chest shielded from the impending wrath that circled his friend.

The four elements were together again, embodied around the Avatar. Sokka looked down at his sister's blank face, brushing her hair away as his lip quivered. He cautiously turned his head to look back at Aang. He had risen a few more feet off the ground. The earth below him had been decimated by either Aang's demand of its involvement or the overpowering force of the wind, save for a few square feet he intended to protect. Sokka tried calling out to him, but the wind cried louder. It screamed in their ears, the desolate cognizant covering the sides of their heads to block out the penetrating call of the air.

"Aang!" Cried Sokka. His voice would never reach him.

Zuko knelt several feet away, his twin broadswords slung around the neck of one of them. His scarred face looked upon his firebending protege. Better than most, Zuko knew what was inside that young boy's mind now. All that was taken, all he had lost. It all showed in the scene around them.

' _There isn't any going back from this_ ,' The Fire Lord thought. Some things cannot be undone. The Agni-Kai with his father was proof of that. As he looked toward Aang, his past told him that everything Aang was feeling could be justified.

His present and future, having been influenced by his uncle told him there could still be a higher path to take. Zuko was as helpless as the rest. Aang could not be reached, reasoned with or understood. So he watched. His blades twitched against the neck of his subdued. A slight trail of blood trickled down the sharp steel. Zuko was trained enough to know how much pressure could be applied before skin broke with his own weapon, but angry enough to take advantage of that.

' _Anger_ ,' he thought, ' _Is that all you have now, Aang? You could never be like I was. You are stronger than me, stronger than all of us._ '

A concussive blast of wind knocked several trees over. Sokka protected his unconscious sister, holding her closer.

Zuko looked away and closed his eyes for a moment, letting his captive take the blunt of the force for him. They were knocked out cold from the air pressure hitting them. Zuko removed his swords from their throat as they fell limp in front of him and swiftly combined them into their single form again and sheathed them. He remained knelt down, close to the little ground that Aang hadn't consumed. He glanced over at Sokka and saw that he was sobbing over his younger sister, cradling her face. A heat arose inside Zuko, plucking at his heart. He crawled over to them, ducking out of the way of a few rogue stones.

Sokka looked up from Katara and reached for Zuko, his arm shaking from the wind. Zuko stumbled as he grabbed Sokka's hand, pulling himself into the huddle. He gazed down at her. Her face still retained its color and glow through this trauma. He admired that about her. She had an astounding ability, apart from her bending mastery to always produce a positive outlook toward any dire situation.

"Beautiful." Mumbled Zuko, muted by the howling of the wind. Maybe the natural opposite attraction they had to each other was a dominating factor – fire and water. After the trip to hunt down her mother's killer Yon Rha, they developed a bond with each other that Zuko still had a hard time explaining, and even then... sparing his life proved further that she forever found her way to the light when it was darkest. He found himself thinking about her more often each day. Silent and removed, he would always sit by during their down-time from traveling. From his corner of camp, always strategically chosen, he could watch her without drawing suspicion. Being a firebender, the practices she studied gave him little interest, but the sight would still draw him in. She moved with the water, just like the water itself. Fluid and ever changing. He was happy be around her again. 'Happy,' Zuko processed. A still new sensation for the young Fire Lord. Truly his friends were the pivoting point for his emotional as well as mental breakthrough. A new man was born from the ashes of his own past. Happy was a word furthest from today's events.

Zuko's teeth ground together. The memories flooded his mind. Memories of the times they had and battles they won.

' _They won't be the last. You'll make it._ '

He put a hand on Sokka's back in assurance. The water tribe warrior trembled, a mix of anger and despair coming from within him.

"Wake up, Katara," he whimpered, "you have to wake up."

"Sokka..." said Zuko, glancing up from the motionless waterbender. Sokka may not have been gifted with the ability to bend water, but all the water in the world seemed to come from his eyes. Drips of his anguish fell on her face, splashing off her cheek. Her rosy cheeks that Zuko could find reddening each time Katara "accidentally" came across him training.

"Mmph..." a noise erupted from her. Her eyelids twitched, still shut tight.

Sokka perked up his head from its depressed lean, "Katara!" he exclaimed, cradling the back of her head. His job was to take care of her. For years it was the two of them against the world. Come what may, Sokka would defend his sister. As she progressed in her waterbending training, more times than he would care to admit, it was Katara saving his skin instead. He felt helpless. What big brother allows this to happen to his sister? His fist clenched next to her head as he watched her squirm.

"Zuko... she might-" Zuko's attention left the reacting waterbender. His gaze found Aang again. The Avatar had descended upon the only renegade that was willed enough to stay awake. Rage was all he could see. Shaking uncontrollably under the weight of Aang's wrath, they brought their arms up in surrender, begging for mercy.

"P-please, Avat-t-tar! Just.. just spare me!" On their knees and with their hands clasped together, all they had left was the determination to survive. The last one left. The pleas were cast aside. No more would they find the Avatar to be gentle and understanding. They left nothing else for him. All Aang held dear was unresponsive, laying on the ground. Zuko knew Aang was still in there, with the minimal influence over his Avatar State. He knew it when he saw her.

The narrow section of earth Aang had left untainted by his destruction still remained.

Bloodied and broken, she lay there protected. Underneath his all powerful state and upon his dedicated slab of rock he saved for her, Toph was untouchable. In a fetal state she stayed, all of the chaos kept away from her by the cyclone of air Aang had formed around the two of them. No sound could be heard within. He created a different world for her inside. No more could be done to her.

Aang's glowing hand raised above his head, commanding the elements to combine into a tower of destruction. Vengeance was birthed at the ends of his fingers. His luminosity intensified as he cast his arm downward in a swift stroke, directing his power toward the accused.

' _ **Protect. Her**_ ,' Aang thought internally as his wrathful elemental weapon hurled forward.

The wind blew away the few remaining trees behind him, the water sharpened into a thousand frozen daggers, the earth condensed into unbreakable stones and the fire screamed with savagery.

* * *

 ** **A/N - Welcome to the first part of our journey. This is what some may call a prologue, others a "flash forward"****

 ** **I've been out of the game for many years, I'd still love any feedback you kind people have to offer. We have a long way to go to catch up with this chapter. I'm sorry for all the canon lovers in the world, this work of fiction will feature the pairings of Aang/Toph and Zuko/Katara, lovingly referred to as Taang and Zutara. It's good to be back, I hope you accept me. I of course do not own any of these characters. I am only their humble guide.****

 ** **Zach****


	2. The Mountain

_Not so long ago..._

Daybreak. Barely a noise was audible. A light wind brushed against the few trees surrounding. Tiny animals began their morning routine, venturing out of their nests to gather necessary fruits and nuts.

With not a dismal cloud in sight, the day was surely to be a pleasant one.

The ground began to tremble, shaking awake the remaining slumbered. Sokka groaned against the warm embrace of his sleeping bag. His left eye opened to a slit, a small percentage of him interested in what was disturbing him. The quake continued until he heard the shattering of stone. The loud pop jolted him fully awake, his eyes wide and bloodshot.

Toph burst from her home made earth-tent, ready for the day.

"Good morning, earthbending student!" Toph threw a fist in the air with triumph.

Sokka pulled his bag back over his head and mumbled angry nothings to himself.

"Good morning, Sifu Toph, " replied Aang, walking up to his new instructor with a respectful bow. Waking an hour before the others, Aang was able to squeeze in his daily meditation before the full day of work he knew would be ahead of him. He had been looking forward to this day for some time. Without fully knowing what or who she was, since the day at the swamp Aang knew he needed to find Toph. Fate was an interesting thing, leading him to an earthbending competition to discover his destined master. The image of her in the swamp shown her in an elegant dress, flowing and frilly. Aang had immediately noted how she looked to be his age. She seemed happy, with that innocent smile stuck on her face as he chased her through the murky water and mossy branches.

When tracking her to what would be identified as her family's home, Aang found that the happiness was the true illusion. Sheltered and restricted, Toph led a double-life. By day she was the helpless blind daughter of a nobleman, unknown to the outside world and forever guarded inside the walls of her home. Moonlighting as the highly regarded "Blind Bandit", Toph was free. Earthbending was her liberation, routinely sneaking out using her heightened senses to her advantage, easily slipping past the guards and house workers.

The Bandit was as much of a mystery as the girl. Neither the host nor the fans of the Earth Rumble tournaments knew the identity of the powerful little lady quickly rising to fame.

She intended to remain unknown, for her sake and her parent's. She succeeded.

Until he showed up.

The light footed contender who sought to dethrone her claim of the championship belt.

Before she knew what was happen, having a hard time tracking his movements, she was flung from the floor of the arena and out of bounds, defeated and humiliated. She disappeared into earthen wall without giving the pursuing shouts of the airbender behind her a second thought, focused solely on escaping any further degradation.

A combination of hurt and wonder tugged at her heart later that same night.

' _What was he after?_ ' she would think, wandering the patrolled halls of the Beifong estate.

His movements were unlike any other she had faced. Evasive and unpredictable, each time she would attack she would at the same time lose sight of his whereabouts. This bothered her. Blind since birth, the sense her earthbending gave her allowed her to see everything. The footsteps of those around her produced all the sight she needed. The vibrations from the ground were her eyes. Nothing was unseen to her, or unpredictable. Save for him. ' _The jerk,_ ' she thought with frustration, ' _he was cheating, he didn't even hit me._ '

The next day had arrived, as did her Earth Rumble successor. If the night before hadn't changed her fate, this one would. She drew back the temptation to drop her jaw at the discovery that the boy who conquered her in the ring was the Avatar, the last surviving airbender.

Today they stood as master and apprentice. Earth and air, opposing and learning from each other.

The morning of Aang's first lesson, dressed in her trademark tunic and headband in the place of her formal dress from the time before, Toph remarked on those first few days of knowing Aang as he walked toward her, his little footsteps barely registering to her. Just over a week had elapsed since they departed together, already finding trouble from within the group itself and from the pursuit of the Fire Nation Princess Azula.

Sokka wiggled in his sleeping bag, his grumbling reaching Toph's ears. She smirked and kicked the ground, sending her command to the earth underneath him.

Sokka screamed as he was launched several feet into the air, arcing over the giant sleeping bison.

"What was that?!" Toph shouted, her grin widening when unintelligible remarks came from the frustrated warrior behind Appa. She felt him hop away, tangled in his bag as he searched for a much more peaceful place to finish his desired sleep.

Aang nervously rubbed the back of his head as he watched the scene unfold.

' _He barely made a peep, what is she gonna do to me if I speak out of turn?_ ' Aang swallowed the lump in his throat. She had no ability to see with her eyes, but he has seen her fury first hand. He could almost feel a bump forming on his head from an impending punishment. As Katara gathered the materials for a modest breakfast, being that their supplies were not fully stocked, Aang could only think of one thing to say to his teacher.

"What shall we start with first?"

Toph stepped closer to Aang, coming within inches of him and jabbing him on the chest with her forefinger.

"First! First you need to ditch the shoes! You're going to be earthbending. This isn't gonna be like you're tossing air around and flinging water at something. You have to _feel_ the earth!"

Aang blinked a couple times in puzzlement while a few feet away from them Katara cursed under her breath at how Toph just wrote off waterbending like it was a joke. He complied, earning a satisfactory nod from Toph.

"Now... over there," Toph felt for an open space. Less than a hundred feet away lay a valley with walls twenty meters high. Aang followed her as she began to walk to their chosen training ground.

She bended the earth beneath her and created a slab that slid down the side of the valley, smoothly depositing her on the floor.

Aang jumped off the edge and floated down to where she was, a light puff of air cushioning his descent.

Toph's lip curled and she stomped her foot. A lump of rock shot up from behind Aang and knocked him in the back, sending him stumbling forward.

"What do you think you're doing?!" Toph demanded, pointing her finger at Aang as she looked at nothing in front of her.

"Um... learning to earthbend?" Aang asked cautiously, dusting off his bare shins.

"Wrong! You were airbending! Rule number one: no airbending! Rule number two: no waterbending! If you're going to learn how to earthbend, then that's all you're going to do. Use it again and I'll show you up close what a rock slide looks like!"

Aang bowed his head to Toph, despite her not seeing the gesture.

"Yes, Sifu." He shuffled his feet against the ground. Toph took notice of this.

"Feel it yet?" she asked. Aang looked up at her from his downward gaze and raised and eyebrow.

"I'm not sure... What is it supposed to feel like?" Aang asked. He expected a rock to be thrown at his head for a question like that, but none came. Toph's stance relaxed slightly and she directed her sightless eye-line down to her own feet. She curled her toes against a few loose stones she could feel.

"Its like the ground is talking to me. Its letting me know about... well, everything."

Aang turned back to his bare feet again, mimicking Toph's actions. The earth beneath him was silent. It had nothing to say to him like it did with Toph.

' _Monkey feathers!_ ' Aang cursed himself. Granted the day was hardly over, he expected to be progressing so quickly by now. Waterbending came easily to him, and he was also one of the youngest to ever become an airbending master and earn his arrow. He didn't want to disappoint Toph any more than he didn't want to disappoint himself. He clenched his teeth with frustration.

"I just don't feel that!"

Toph crossed her arms over her chest and pursed her lips with a thought.

"Well we aren't nearly done yet. Lets get started with your first real lesson. Show me your best stance."

Aang immediately widened his feet and stood firm, his elbows bent and fists tightened by his ribs.

He watched Toph walk toward him as he stood rigid in his place. She flicked him on the nose, jabbed him in the stomach and kicked the back of his leg.

"Chin up – suck it in – widen more," she ordered. Aang obeyed quickly. He held his head up high and felt a camp in his groin as he stretched his legs out further. He couldn't help but pray to the spirits that Katara or Sokka didn't wander over to the edge of the valley and find him in this position.

His bottom lip quivered as the cramp worsened.

Toph grinned mischievously, sensing his trembling and lack of comfort.

"Earthbending is about being firm. You have to be unmovable," Toph walked around in front of him, facing his direction, "Nothing can move the earth but the unmovable. Gravity can't be controlled, but it controls the earth, get it? If your stance is weak, you won't be unmovable. If you're firm and stand your ground, I can-" Toph swung her tiny foot up in a violent arc in between his legs, stopping merely inches from his crotch.

Aang's eye twitched and a small tear dripped from it.

"-Do this, and you'll be unmoved," Toph brought her foot back down and patted Aang on the shoulder.

"Good job, Twinkletoes. That's one lesson down," she said, walking away and gesturing for him to follow her.

Aang stood still, frozen and terrified. He whimpered as he straightened his stance, closing his eyes with a "phew" as he wiped his face of sweat.

Ahead of him, Toph was smiling to herself, knowing the fear she instilled in him would last through the day.

' _I'll make a man out of you yet, Fancypants."_

Vigorous exercises filled most of the day. Rock crunches, stone lifts, a variant on tug-of-war with Toph suited up in a casing of rock. Aang was sore from head to toe, but he wouldn't let Sifu Toph know that.

The valley lay in shambles from a dozen demonstrations Toph gave for Aang to learn from. Boulders were reduced to pebbles everywhere and the walls were scarred and deformed.

Aang's feet had become as calloused as his mentor's, bearing the resemblance in toughness and filth. Toph did not let up on him throughout the day. Katara may have suggested a gentler approach earlier, but rock isn't gentle. If he was to learn, he'd learn it hard. If there were an earthbender out there that found a gentle short path to success, then they don't deserve the ability to bend the ground around them.

During one of the many rock crunches she commanded Aang to do, Toph tapped her heel on the ground and it resulted in a pointed lump emerging from beneath Aang, poking him in the back. Aang yelped and let go of the rock he would have to curl up with each time he reached his elbows to his knees.

"What did I do wrong?" Aang asked in surprised. He thought he was doing much better later in the day than when they started. Her disgusted grunts changed into approving nods. Toph had hiked up her green bottoms to above her knees, like Aang had done with his. Her hair was loosened up more than she would prefer, getting in her face as they trained.

She blew a strand of hair out of her face and put her hands on her hips, "Break time."

Aang dusted himself off and stood up straight.

Toph wagged a finger at him, "Wear that dirt like a badge of honor, you're earning it."

He gave Toph a humbled smile, noticing how messy she looked. Dirt was makeup to her, she was never without it. To see Toph with her hair messy sent an unfamiliar surge up his spine though. Toph couldn't see the sudden discomfort in the airbender's face, but she could feel the change in his heart rate and it raised her curiosity. Her brow lifted above her eye as she came closer to Aang.

' _Uh oh..."_ Aang thought to himself, his eyes darting from side to side searching for another rock that was surely to strike him in the cheek again, maybe the ribs this time. None came.

Toph brushed passed him, their shoulders colliding.

"Watch it, Twinkletoes. Don't get in the way of a hungry earthbender," Toph said, continuing her pace toward the camp site to get a snack.

Aang stood there breathing a sigh of relief, feeling his heart settling after having lurched up into his throat with her close proximity.

' _Wait..._ ' Aang thought, a confusion rising in him, ' _She had to know I was there..._ '

Toph pattered forward. ' _That probably wasn't obvious...'_ she reasoned inwardly, having confirmed her theory with the passing interchange.

She felt Aang's anxiety rise when they briefly touched. He had become stiff and his breath hitched as he stared off into space.

' _Good. He's afraid of me.'_

Aang turned and made his way to the camp site, a couple dozen feet behind Toph. He wiped his sweaty hands on his thighs, continuously replaying the recent moment in his head. The strange energy sent through him when Toph bumped into him had his mind racing with wonder. Earthbending wasn't enough today, now he was stuck figuring something else out.

As he came up to to where they set up home, Aang found that Sokka had gone.

"Where did Sokka run off to? Food is kind of his thing." Aang said to Katara as she dished out several bowls of the stew she managed to produce.

"He said he was going hunting, though I'll be surprised if he comes back with anything more than a Gilacorn in this place," Katara said, "He told me he wouldn't be long though." She looked in the direction of the dimming sun, further doubting the quick return of her older brother.

"I'd say he fell and bumped his head, but uh... that wouldn't hurt him," Toph quipped, feeling for the bowl Katara put out for her.

Katara sent an annoyed glance toward Toph, knowing she couldn't tell. Worry still found her. She rubbed her arm soothingly and sat down to enjoy the small meal she made.

Aang picked up on her concern and stirred his specially made vegetarian stew, "If he isn't back before we're done eating, we'll go look for him."

Toph slurped from her bowl, kicking the spoon away her and Katara cringed at the disgusting sounds she was forced to hear.

' _Very lady-like,'_ she thought to herself, modestly picking at her own bowl.

"Good idea, Aang," Katara flashed him a bright smile that made him melt against the log he leaned on, "There isn't a limit to the amount of trouble Sokka can get himself into."

After a few minutes, Katara looked across the fire to Aang again, seeing him next to Toph. It struck a jealous nerve that he wasn't sitting next to her like he usually would during their meals.

Katara twirled her spoon around in her bowl, trying to break an awkward silence.

"So... how is your earthbending coming? I heard a couple boulders being thrown around," said Katara, posting a forced positive look on her face.

Aang's face turned red and he stared shamelessly at his bare feet as Toph spat with a chuckle.

"Oh, its going great!" she threw her thumb up in the air. Aang coughed into his fist nervously and twiddled his thumbs, "Those were... not from me. Toph was uh – disciplining me."

Katara blinked, "Oh. So you still can't-"

"Nope," Toph interrupted, "But if its any consolation, he can really take a hit."

"So you're using punishment and abuse as your educational reinforcement?" Katara snapped at Toph.

Toph belched and tossed her bowl on the ground and earthbended it away, sticking a finger in her ear and twisting it to clean out a nonexistent blockage, "I'm sorry, what was that? I forgot to tell you I'm also sorta deaf. Kinda sounded like you were criticizing my teachings."

With the sun starting to eclipse over the horizon, Aang abruptly stood to interrupt any further argument from his two mentors.

"I'm going after Sokka, we should probably all split up to cover the most ground," said Aang, pulling his pant legs back down to his ankles to brace the impending evening chill. Toph huffed and knocked her fist on the ground beside her. A bulge of earth protruded upward and propelled her to her feet.

"Its a shock we haven't heard him. He doesn't exactly have an inside voice," Toph said as she picked at her teeth with her fingernail, turning and walking in her chosen direction of search.

Katara disregarded the leftover mess and began her own search for Sokka, walking in another direction, the polar opposite of Toph.

"Meet back here in one hour, it'll be too dark by then for anything to be done," Aang shouted to the two. Momo looked up from his spot atop Appa's fluffy head and chirped, quirking his head to the side.

"You too, Momo. Maybe you can find Sokka," Aang said as he pointed in a random direction. The lemur leaped off of the bison and took flight, chattering to itself as it ascended.

"Appa," Aang started before Appa released a long yawn, "just stay here if Sokka comes back." He finished with an understanding grin. Appa couldn't be negotiated with after all the sleep he lost with the pursuit of Azula and her talented female companions only a couple nights ago.

Aang turned into a sprint, bending the air behind him to provide him more speed. He leapt a couple times before bounding into an unnatural vertical gain, a pocket of air exploding under his feet and launching him up on top of a large bushy tree. From the top he could see all the canyons and crevices that made up the desolate terrain they settled on. Katara was looking behind several large rocks along her path, possibly thinking her brother was tricking them the entire time and planning on spooking her. Aang watched her for a moment, admiring the fluidity of her stride. The setting sun bounced off her dark hair as it blew in the wind. Thwack – thwack – thwack.

Aang turned around from atop his tree and saw Toph walking down her own pathway. Fluid wasn't a word Aang could use to describe the way Toph proceeded, but that was no surprise. Nothing about Toph was fluid. Nothing was smooth or gentle. Aang accepted and respected that about the blind earthbender. She was strong and independent. She hadn't admitted it, but Aang knew she needed them as much as they needed her. Aang's face twisted the moment he spotted her. Gentle indeed was not the word.

Toph felt nothing but the wind on her face and the presence of little critters scurrying along the ground and in the ground. No Sokka, yet. But she had something to keep her company in her search. She swatted Aang's staff against this rock and that rock, dragging it along the ground behind her like a toy she was bored with.

She disappeared behind a wall of rock, turning in a new direction.

Aang's head sank as he sighed in despair. He turned away and floated down from the tree, finding no conclusive leads from his vantage point. She held possession of his staff for half the day, cracking nuts with it and smacking him with it as if he were a pesky insect. His wrists still stung. He took off in the north, with Katara heading west and Toph in the east. He tried to shake off the frustrations of the day as he bounded from boulder to tree branch. Not a single pebble bent to his will and he only received silent nods of approval from Toph when he was at least performing the proper stance. That, and her criticism - however harsh. As firm as a teacher she was, Aang felt that even through his failures and shortcomings today, his knowledge of earthbending was already greater than he could have expected. An appreciation for the earth grew within him, a bond he didn't have with airbending or waterbending. Earth was everywhere and everything. People cannot survive without earth. Even the great air temples in the corners of the world were earthen structure. All were tied to the earth, and it to them. Aang began to feel... _something_ , as he hopped over a fallen decayed tree. He skid to a halt. A dust cloud formed at his feet with the cease of his movements.

His breathing slowed as he calmed himself.

' _I can hear you..._ '

Memories from Omashu flooded his mind. What Bumi said to him lingered right now.

"Someone who waits and listens," came from the century old king.

"I see with my feet," were the words of Toph.

Aang shut his eyes, widening his stance to do just that: listen.

Leaves, bushes, a storm in the distance.

His ears could pick up what they meant to. As Aang took a deep breath in and slowly exhaled, his mind left his ears alone. Traveling down to his feet, his senses shifted. He couldn't hear it. He could see it. His eyes remained shut as intuition took over. He raised one foot up slightly and slammed it back down to the dirt.

Everything was there. He could see the trees, the mice in their holes, the birds in their nests. He could see the valley and the boulders from his lessons, laying there in shambles where they left them. He could see Katara off in the distance, panic risng inside her with every stone turned over to reveal her brother wasn't under it. He could see Toph. No more was she smashing his glider against inanimate objects. He could see his staff slung on her back, tucked into the band around her tiny waist.

He could see Sokka.

"Sokka!" Aang's eyes shot open as he took off toward Sokka's seismic given location. His heart pounding and his feet kicking showed Aang his predicament. Within seconds, thanks to the guidance of the burst of air behind him, Aang came across the wayward warrior.

"Aang! Do you have any meat?!" Sokka cried, waving his immobilized hands in front of his face.

Aang couldn't help but cover his mouth with a chuckle. Sokka, encased up to his neck in earth couldn't think of anything but his stomach.

"I did, yeah. Today I renounced my vegetarianism," Aang quipped, walking up to the particularly disabled tribesman.

Sokka would have clapped if he could, "Oh that's great! I'm glad you have such a sense of humor right now. Can ya bust me out of here?"

Aang evaluated Sokka's situation briefly. Rushing in, he yanked on Sokka's hands in an attempt to uproot him. Sokka wailed, "Ow that's not working! You're gonna pull my fingers off!"

Aang crossed his arms over his chest and thought for a second.

"I can probably airbend you out of there."

Not far off, Toph kicked a tiny stone ahead of her, catching up with it time after time.

Boredom nearly consumed her. Time had passed to the point that even Momo flew over to drop in on her for a moment. A tremor reached the bottom of her feet and she stopped, focusing her attention in the direction it came from.

"Looks like he finally found him," Toph muttered to nobody.

She kicked the stone away and began walking toward Aang and Sokka, hiking up a small hill that overlooked the canyon Sokka stumbled in to, where he found himself currently incapacitated.

The scene transpiring before Toph's sightless eyes gave her brief concern. In Sokka's inconvenient state, he had befriended a baby Saber-tooth Moose Lion cub. Through the day, the tiny creature helped him maintain what little sanity and dignity he could.

But now the mother had found her lost cub. Aang was as stuck as Sokka. Unable to abandon his friend and staring down an enraged Moose Lion matriarch, Aang could only confront the massive beast.

Toph casually took a seat on an elevated platform, leaning back on her elbows with her feet flat against the ground.

' _Come on, Twinkletoes. Show me something._ '

She 'watched' Aang evade and distract the animal, thinking just like an airbender.

He hopped around and narrowly escaped the wrath of the mother several times, at least diverting its attention away from Sokka. The beast fumed with a protective rage as it stomped around, carrying the intention of crushing the two humans. With every failed attempt, the Saber-tooth Moose Lion reared up and came crashing down to the earth before it took off with heightened ferocity. Aang barely spun out of the way of one of the massive tusks that came down over his head, digging a jagged trench into the ground as it struck. Sokka trembled in fear, helpless and immobile. His home in the ground shook with every gigantic step from the mother. He felt as if the earth around him would react to the cataclysm of her foot steps and swallow him whole. Images of home, Katara, Suki all came to him in a flash. His most important treasures he feared were too far from him now. Guilt clung to him like a leech as he processed the life he lead. Short though it has been, with the victory at the North Pole and the mostly successful defense he spearheaded back at the South with his father gone to war, he had accomplished much for his age. While the baby Moose Lion licked the side of his face, Sokka mustered a regretful sigh.

"I didn't even get to eat you," with his head bowing in shame, expecting to close the book on his life within the next several minutes. A creature ten times his size and Aang unable to earthbend, and no water to be found for him to use, his hope dwindled to nothing.

Aang tumbled in front of him with a painful shout. The mother caught up with his movements and knocked him down with the blunt of her skull. She stood several yards away, pawing at the ground readying for her final assault.

Aang pushed himself off the ground with a groan, straightening into a defensive stance before Sokka.

Sokka looked up at the back of his head, "Please don't leave me," he begged.

Aang tightened his hands into fists and readied himself, his eyes unblinking in the direction of the massive Moose Lion. His toes curled into the dirt as his legs spread out. Sokka counted the seconds until the end as Aang whispered, "I won't."

With a deafening roar, the monster charged forward. The ground at its feet buckled under the crushing weight of the ferocious stomping. Boulders found difficult to move even by earthbending standards were destroyed without a notice from the the rushing animal. Limbs were torn off the scattered trees by its passing horns. For what seemed an eternity, Aang stared down the angry beast. Sokka did only what instinct allowed him, close his eyes in anticipation of the impending doom. Aang's eyes slowly closed themselves when his own instinct brought him back to his training. The Moose Lion lit up the entire world, allowing Aang to envision every pebble and leaf on the ground. His breathing steadied and all he heard was his own heartbeat, slow and calm despite the dire circumstance. Waves of force rippled through his body, the tremors from his attack illuminating his sightless perspective. With a short step back, his foot shattered the earth beneath it, wrinkling in shapes of lightning. Strengthening his stance he threw a fist forward, resembling a punch.

' _Unmovable._ '

Toph was nearly knocked over from the force. She bent the ground under her to enclose her feet and hands and lock her in place. All the while a satisfied smirk graced her pale face. With the thrust of Aang's fist, the plain below the Moose Lion exploded from its stationary position, bursting into a hundred independent slabs and rising like a wave. The matriarch smashed into the defending wall of rock, all of her momentum being absorbed into it before the earth propelled her back. It carried her down the gorge in an unrelenting movement. The beast howled and roared as it helplessly flailed on her back. Aang flicked his wrist when his earthen wave reached the end of the valley. The rock tossed the Moose Lion off and over a distant collection of bushy trees. With the rock settling back down into its natural state, the humiliated roar could be heard emanating from the defeated creature.

After a few tense seconds of expecting a second attempt from the Moose Lion, Aang lowered his arms to his sides with a victory confirmed, feeling her giant foot steps stomp away from them.

The cub that befriended Sokka yipped and bounced by his side before taking off after its mother, oblivious and innocent to the recent conflict.

Sokka peeked through the slit of his eyelid. This day had become filled with moments he didn't want to witness when he opened his eyes. He cursed the days he couldn't get enough sleep. A quick debate in his head was trying to decide the scarier: Toph or the Saber-tooth Moose Lion.

Aang released a deep breath and brought his hands to a concentrating rest in front of him, as he often did after a successful battle.

His mind's eye sensed the warrior behind him, tension slowly leaving his still fastened body.

With a quizzical look Sokka asked, "Soo... been earthbending today have ya?"

Aang opened his eyes and stomped a foot on the ground. Sokka yelped as he was shot up from his imprisonment and landed numbly beside Aang. The sun had almost completely set, with just the twilight peering over the horizon. The plain had been restored and to the untrained eye it was unnoticeable that there had been a confrontation. Everything was where it should have been. Even through the upheaval of the valley floor, Aang's focus had maintained the original shape and layout when all was done.

Aang lent a helping hand to Sokka, hoisting him up to his feet. Still numb from the afternoon underground, Sokka wobbled as he stood, waving his arms frantically to gain balance.

Before Aang could say anything to Sokka, his attention turned to the tiny footsteps he felt coming up beside the two of them.

"What now?" the tribesman whined, unable to see through the still settling dust cloud, noticing Aang's focus divert.

"Calm down, Snoozles," said Toph as she emerged from the cloudiness, Aang's glider still slung over her back.

Moments after the disposal of the Saber-tooth Moose Lion, she had sat there in awe replaying the display over and over in her mind. In the same day Aang couldn't even bend a skipping stone to his will, he managed to reshape the earth before him in a way that Toph was too proud to admit made her jealous. Her little shelf she was spectating from had shook from Aang's attack. Her gifted vision became distorted and cloudy for a moment, and she had smashed a fist into the ground to resonate through the murkiness of her sight and clear it so she didn't miss a single moment. She had recovered just in time to glimpse the opposing animal get tossed over a wall of trees. Toph couldn't resist the urge to 'stare', viewing Aang from her seismic sight as he stood there as steady as a rock, completely sure of himself. She found it hard to believe this was the same hopeless student she was training earlier. She expected that when she took a seat off to the side that she would discover Aang hurling small stones or conjuring a tremor. As she approached the two boys, shock still coursed through her body. She kept her trembling sweaty hands behind her back, producing the illusion of an unimpressed earthbending master while covering the visage of an awe struck bystander.

"Toph!" Sokka squeaked, leaning against Aang for support as feeling slowly returned to his legs, "You should have seen it! The Moose Lion was like 'roar!' and Aang was like 'woosh!'" The warrior lazily expressed his description with hazed gestures, suffering from an imbalanced blood flow.

"You don't have any meat either, do you?" Sokka's face slouched against Aang's shoulder.

Aang looked over his earthbending teacher with curiosity. She was filthier than she was when they parted ways to search for Sokka less than half an hour ago. Unlike her usual dirtiness which was a thin film of dust, this was caked on gravel and speckles of soil across her face. She resembled someone trapped in a sandstorm. His eyes narrowed with suspicion, "You were watching, weren't you?"

Toph shrugged innocently and brushed her shoulder of any loose crumbs of dirt.

"Funny thing to ask the blind girl," she said with a smug look. There was no otherwise convincing Aang. Toph could figure that he caught a glimpse of her during his moment of focus as he listened to the earth like she taught him. There was no hiding from him then, much like right now.

Aang cast her an annoyed glance that passed right by her unseeing eyes. He huffed and extended an inquiring arm.

"Why didn't you help? Sokka was in trouble! I could have used some backup!"

His voice raised a decibel as the realization of her presence fully sunk in.

Sokka picked his head up off Aang's shoulder and patted his back, "From where I was, it looked like you had it under control, buddy! That was some serious earthbending! I'm glad Toph taught you the good stuff early," said Sokka, looking between Aang and Toph with a wide relieved grin. This morning as he stomped away in his sleeping bag following his rude awakening from Toph, he left Aang as he was. An Avatar with only airbending and waterbending at his disposal. At the time he didn't care what Aang learned, all he could think of was sleep and the peace and quiet that accompanied it. Joy was one of the many emotions Sokka felt when his life was out of the claws of a furious Saber-tooth Moose Lion and behind the protective wall of the summoned earth.

"I didn't teach him that," Toph retorted. Sokka's grin fell from his face. He looked inquisitively at Aang, noticing the embarrassed turn the monk's head took, any direction but Sokka's eye line.

"What does she mean? Did you make up that move yourself? That's even cooler!" Sokka exclaimed.

Aang broke away from Sokka's friendly hold, turning away from the two of them and staring into the distance. "I..." Aang started, trying to find the proper words, "I didn't know I could do that."

Sokka became increasingly confused.

"I could finally feel the earth beneath me. All day I was trying so hard and it didn't say a thing to me. I was starting to think I would never be able to hear it, or earthbend for that matter," Aang said, looking down at his feet.

"I just did what I had to do. I'm thankful it paid off..."

Sokka's jaw dropped, "So you... you didn't even _know_ you could earthbend?!"

Aang nervously rubbed the back of his bald head, shuffling his feet.

Sokka nearly fell over, "You earthbended on a hunch! Is that what you're saying?"

Aang sheepishly chuckled and turned around to face him with a tint of pink on his cheeks.

"I have really good gut feelings," Aang spotted a smirk on Toph's face. She could barely hold in her laughter with Sokka voicing his realizations. As Sokka rambled about chances and recklessness behind him, Aang approached Toph.

The sun fell behind the edge of the horizon and the sky was as dark as Toph's eyesight.

Toph crossed her arms over her chest and held her chin up high.

"Well..." Aang began before a tiny finger was aimed right between his eyes.

"Yes, I accept your apology."

"Um," Aang squeaked, "what am I apologizing for?" Expecting a strike, Aang flinched.

"You're sorry for ever having a single doubt in that thick airhead of yours," Toph said as she tapped Aang's forehead. He took a moment to lament, with the entire day flowing through his mind in a barrage of images. His eyes cast downward, avoiding Toph's blind stare.

The wind blew over them with a chill. Toph stood unyielding to the night air's attempts to prick at her skin. She heard Aang sigh with defeat. She prepared for his customary bow and appreciation, but her body tensed when she felt her arms wrap around her shoulders. Her dead eyes froze open in shock at the contact.

Hugs came few and far between back home. To earn an embrace from her parents, Toph would have had to provide a truly remarkable showcase of talent or tribute. As it was, Toph had no interest in dancing or instruments or the arts despite her family's insistence. Earthbending drove her and nurtured her, but with her mastery kept in secret from her parents for so long, praise was never a reaction she had received.

With Aang holding her, she had no idea how to respond. All she knew at the moment was that his body was warm against her, and it fought off the cold air. Her cheeks flushed when his head rested against hers. Aang took the leap of faith entirely expecting to be buried in rock. He could think of no other way to properly express his gratitude for all Toph had taught him today.

"Thank you, Sifu."

Toph squeaked in an attempt to reply, her voice tiny in the gust of wind running through them.

"And I am sorry. I'm sorry for being slow. You're such an amazing teacher, I was a fool to not take to it sooner," Aang said this and Toph felt a pride well up in her. Pride was a constant for the young earthbender. One of the few things Toph wore on her sleeve, but Aang's words created a new sense of pride for her. She had become proud of him, not herself. Her knowledge passed into him and he finally utilized it. She had all but given up on him earlier, with his stubborn airbending dominance overpowering its earthbending counterpart.

Her hands twitched and she reached up to lock them behind his back.

Aang felt her relax into him and her breathing quieted.

Her hand patted his back supportingly, "I would have said idiot, but fool works too."

Aang chuckled and pulled back from her.

"I don't know where I would be without you right now. I thought about airbending that Moose Lion away, but something called to me," Aang said as he looked over at the still rambling water tribe warrior.

Toph kicked his foot playfully.

"You saw what I see," she said knowingly.

Aang nodded invisibly to her and they began to walk back to camp. Toph grabbed Sokka by his sleeve and pulled him in the direction they were going. His fuming had worn him out and he slumped with exhaustion as he walked along.

Aan'gs attention was broken from their destination to the tap against his arm.

Toph and taken his glider off her back and presented it to him, holding it out for him to take.

"I'm sorry too," Toph said with a shameful look, "I might have been too hard on you. Maybe if I had been a little more gentle like Katara said then-"

"Then it wouldn't have been you," Aang interrupted as he placed a hand on his staff and accepted it from her, "Katara didn't teach me how to earthbend. Toph Bei Fong did. And that's why I'm so good at it." A confident grin spread across Aang's face. Toph tossed him a smug glare, "Don't get carried away. So you blew some dust around, whoop-di-doo!" She twirled her finger sarcastically and hustled ahead of him.

Aang's grin remained as the camp came into view, twisting his staff in his hand.

Toph felt Katara pacing impatiently around the fire she made earlier. She had returned after sunset, as was the plan if Sokka was not recovered. Coming into view of her, Toph shouted to the waterbender.

"Found him!" As she walked over to sit down on a log, Katara ran passed her with the notice of her brother stumbling in next to Aang. Toph sensed the fluctuation in Aang's heartbeat as Katara came toward them with glee lighting up her face. She sat there picking excess crud out of her toes as Katara suffocated her brother in a relieved hug. Her mind wandered back to the hug Aang had given her, one of the very few in her entire sheltered life. She finally noticed how cold the night had become, with the hairs on her arms sticking up from a shiver passing over her. It was so much warmer just a few moments ago within Aang's embrace.

She felt the ground rumble as Aang began demonstrating his newfound bending. Katara praised him and wrapped him in a hug of her own. Aang's heart skipped a beat, and Toph tossed a piece of dirt into the fire that she dug from between her toes. She stood up and walked away from the rejoicing three, finding a small clearing in a corner of the camp to build her new earth-tent. As she settled into it, laying her head on a soft mound of dirt she formed at the end of her small temple, she felt a familiar lonliness creep in. A feeling that haunted her for many years dealing with the distance of her family and lack of friends. She was aware of being surrounded by new people that cared for her, but her cold empty earth-tent began to feel even more hollow. She closed up the door behind her and snuggled into her faithful ground, trying to drown out the sounds from outside.

Aang stayed by the dying fire, his fingers dancing in the air as he bent some of the small stones that formed the shape of the fire pit. The air bit at his cheeks while the night grew later, but his fascination with his new power endlessly stimulated him. Sleep evaded the Avatar.

The moon shone vibrantly high up in the clear sky. Sokka and Katara had long since gone to sleep. Katara prepared herself for nearly twenty minutes whilst Sokka found his place in the camp from earlier and became dead to the world the moment his head touched the cushioning of his sleeping bag.

The sounds were meager, with the whistle of wind between the leaves and the beastly snore from Sokka being the only things finding Aang's ears. The aches from the day had settled in. His neck was stiff, his back was sore and his head throbbed. The wind picked up for a moment and grazed against his glider as it stood propped up against the log he sat upon. It rolled closer to him and Aang adjusted it back into place. His eyes saw through the dark and noticed crumbs of nuts at the end of the staff, lingering from Toph's earlier torment. He brushed the remains off the end of his staff and gently set it back down, thinking about the earthbender's firm but effective methods.

Scattered bruises and tender joints were the result of her teachings, and the power Aang felt course through him during the encounter with the Saber-tooth Moose Lion was the proof of her success.

Airbending gave him a feeling of freedom, mirroring his personality. With airbending he could be anywhere and do anything, bound effortlessly over nigh unreachable obstacles, or mimic the flight of birds. Waterbending brought him balance and peace. The push and pull of the water flowed through him, with positive energies outweighing the negatives in every swish and twirl of liquid.

He rolled a small stone between his fingers, flattening it to a disc and shaping it into various forms through his bending. Earthbending made him feel unstoppable. It was a feeling entirely new to him, and one he was trying to completely understand. This great power awed him, and he knew only so little about it. Anxiety was consuming him as he waited for the time to speed up so his next earthbending lesson would arrive. He slumped and tossed his transformed stone across the camp, becoming bored with it as he slid down off the log and leaned against it. Stones and pebbles weren't enough for him right now. The drive to command massive boulders and reshape hillsides was all he had tonight. He knew he still had a long way to go before he could master moments like his earlier example of raw power. The timid fire warmed his still bare feet and he was brought to thoughts about Toph.

Not Katara, for once. The small defensive daughter of a noble drowned out any idea of the beautiful waterbender. She was a fortress. An entity as tough as the walls of Ba Sing Se. The inner makings of Toph Beifong were what truly interested Aang. All that she was underneath her armor.

As if fate heard of his curiosity, little feet could be heard padding over toward him. He turned in the direction of them. Nearly midnight, Aang squinted to focus his eyes and made out a slender figure in the darkness.

"Can't sleep either, Twinkle Toes?" Toph emerged from the pitch black as she came within the light of the fire. She was rubbing her blind eyes of the begging sleep that eluded her. Aang glanced over her.

He was shocked to find her hair let down and loose. It swayed back and forth with her movements, looking as soft as silk. She had changed into a set of sleeping attire, a baggy beige top with slim rope straps going over her shoulders and loose fitting brown pants.

As she approached, Aang thought to himself how earthly she always appeared. Blind as she was, she kept a habit of presenting herself in the colors she identified with. Greens and tans and browns, those were what Toph could be seen in. Her outfit was a relaxing sight to see at this hour, but Aang was captivated with the angelic presence her long hair gave her. He'd been so drawn in by her that he hardly registered that she had sat down next to him. Reality snapped back to him, "Yeah, can't really sleep."

Toph's fingers dug around in the dirt next to her leg.

"Aren't you cold?" Aang asked. Her sleeveless top showed her slim bare arms.

Toph shrugged and wiggled her toes, "Meh, doesn't really bother me," she lied, ignoring the bite of the midnight air.

They both fell silent as a few embers crackled in the fire. Aang watched the flames sizzle as they devoured the last remaining lump of wood, while Toph sat and listened. Less than unpleasant sounds were brought to her sensitive ears. The grumble of Appa the Sky Bison was low and menacing, despite his friendly personality. Katara occasionally talked in her sleep, and although Toph was still new to the group, she quickly became familiar with the popular topics of the southern girl's dreams. Katara had once woken Toph right out of a peaceful slumber with a shout that seemed directed at Sokka, and Sokka had jumped straight up from his sleeping bag that night to atone for his mistakes, quickly finding that he had none to speak of. Tonight Toph tuned in and out of mumblings about the exiled Fire Prince Zuko. Those who knew about Katara's recent interest in the heir of the Fire Nation would have only found out about it through her slumbering conversations. Then Sokka, the hyperactive over-calculating aspiring warrior. Snores and grunts were a constant for him. Aang and Toph could only imagine what dire situation he found himself in his dream that caused him to swing a fist at nothing in particular. When he was found to be unusually quiet, they took it as a warning that an unpleasant involuntary bodily function was about to erupt. Growing up fast was a mandate to winning this war against the Fire Nation, but the two of them still snickered like children when Sokka's music emitted from his sleeping bag.

"What has kept you up?" Aang asked as he poked at the fire with a small stick.

Toph listened to the snap and pop of the fire as Aang agitated it and found it soothing.

"Stuff like that," Toph said with a finger pointing toward Sokka at the other side of camp.

Aang grinned with understanding, but said nothing in agreement due to embarrassment, being guilty of the same as Sokka, but his best efforts helped avoid any public exposure.

"I can't stop thinking about earthbending now," Aang said as he summoned a small patch of dirt and formed it into a ball, "That's why I'm still up."

The dirt circled around the fire in a small orbit with Aang's guidance.

His demonstration did not last long, as the ball disintegrated in the air when struck by a short wall Toph produced in its path.

"Gonna have to think about it some more, cause that was too easy!" Toph said with a smirk, proudly linking her hands behind her head. Aang sighed, "Well, that was rude."

"Tough love, Twinkle Toes. It's the business I'm in, and business is _good."_

The two earthbenders carried on short conversations about methods and styles. There was only so much Toph could tell Aang with words, the majority was best left to the physical practice. He listened enthusiastically to anything Toph would tell him, and marveled at her story of meeting the great Badger Moles near her home in Gaoling, those who would be her first earthbending teachers.

Toph's blind eyes sagged as they continued, with yawns interrupting her speech periodically. Aang hadn't realized how close he had gotten to her as she told him various things. Their shoulders were nearly touching, and his closeness relaxed her. Nearly her complete opposite, his personality and demeanor were calming and peaceful. His proximity took over her like a wool blanket. She listened to him talk about the Sky Bison being the first airbenders, and the great Air Temples in the corners of the world. All the while her head became heavier and her eyes narrowed to slits. His voice was low and hushed so as not to disturb the nearby sleepers. It became a melody for Toph's ears.

"When I was nine, Gyatso took me to the Northern Air Temple where I-" Aang stopped when he felt a soft thud against his shoulder. He looked down at the source and found Toph's head resting on him. The Avatar felt stumped. He was afraid to laugh at his ironic joke of being stuck between a rock and a hard place, thinking the slightest chuckle would wake her. She looked content, her lips were parted just a bit and her hair framed her face like a portrait.

Aang let out a slow breath and prayed a final prayer to the spirits. He shifted his arm carefully and got it from under her to rest it around her shoulders. If he left it there much longer under her slumping form, it would have cramped and he would have had to hear about his abrupt removal from Toph when she was tossed aside.

Shivers went through Aang when Toph drew in closer to him, with her hand falling in his lap and the top of her head tucking up under his cheek.

The tranquil version of Toph that Aang was dealing with right now was a rare encounter, and part of him hated that he was quickly losing a grip on staying awake.

He relaxed against her and put aside any worry about the storm he would face in the morning, be it from Toph's fist or Sokka's teasing or any reaction from Katara.

His hand held the side of her arm firmly as he drifted to sleep, making sure she wouldn't get too far from him.

Toph felt his heartbeat through his chest. The airbender was fooled to believe she was fully asleep. She took a deep relaxing breath in and let it out, nuzzling her cheek against his rhythmic heartbeat. Her small puffy lips curved into an innocent smile, and she was happy to be warm again.

* * *

 **The official chapter 1. Aang and Toph have a lot of growing to do, separately and together. Future chapters will feature more involvement from the others. Katara and Sokka didn't get much here because the focal point of this chapter was almost exclusively the development between air and earth. If Toph seems a bit out of character, then I apologize. The truth is, we have no real idea of how Toph would react in situations like this. That's why its a work of fiction. Leave me a review and help me improve. I appreciate all those who are following and reviewed the prologue. I know I have a lot of work to do in many areas. But until next time, thank you.**

 **Zach**


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